The three stars of 'UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira' in Baltimore

The three stars of 'UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira' in Baltimore

The UFC returned to pay-per-view on Saturday night with UFC 172 from Baltimore Arena in Maryland.

There’s always excitement in the air when the octagon sets up in a new market for the first time, and the fans in Baltimore were nothing short of supportive through a 10-fight card that featured far more highs than lows.

The organization’s 14th fight card of the year was arguably its best thus far, as a mix of expected results, surprising upsets, brutal knockouts and stunning submissions sent the fans home happy.

Now that another thrilling night of action inside the octagon has come and gone, here are our three stars for UFC 172.

Third Star: Luke Rockhold

It was somewhat surprising to see Luke Rockhold (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) as high as a 10-to-1 betting favorite in the days leading up to his meeting with Tim Boetsch, but with a submission win just over two minutes into the first round, he proved those odds were far from unreasonable.

Rockhold dispatched of Boetsch in a swift and decisive manner and, as UFC President Dana White noted, didn’t even mess up his hair in the process. Not only that, but the 29-year-old got the job done with a unique submission that could only be described as a kimura assisted by an inverted triangle choke.

The former Strikeforce middleweight champion took care of Boetsch quicker than any of the six previous fighters to defeat “The Barbarian,” further adding to his reputation as one of the sport’s most dangerous first-round finishers.

Rockhold has earned his two UFC victories in a total of 4:39. If he can continue that trend, it’s impossible to not say a middleweight title fight might be just around the corner.

Second Star: Jon Jones

Once against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (20-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) was nothing short of remarkable in his five-round destruction of Glover Teixeira to retain his belt.

With a 20-fight winning streak to his name, there was little doubt surrounding Teixeira’s validity as a title challenger, which made Jones’ utter dismantling of the Brazilian that much more spectacular. Teixeira had little to offer in the way of offensive threats, and that allowed the champion to find his groove and implement his creative MMA tactics.

There was no answer for Jones’ stellar combination of height, reach, technique and versatility. He was able to cruise his way to a clean sweep on the judge’s scorecards and continued to add weight to his already one-of-a-kind resume.

Jones promised to get back to his one-sided ways at UFC 172 after a close fight with Alexander Gustafsson in his last outing. He lived up to that promise and once again proved why he’s on his way to becoming the greatest fighter in MMA history.

First Star: Anthony Johnson

While Jones was incredibly impressive in his win over Teixeira, there was a man in the co-main event named Anthony Johnson (17-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) who was slightly more impressive, just in a different way.

Johnson’s struggles to make weight during his first UFC tenure are well-documented at this point, but with a downright stunning domination of Phil Davis in his UFC return, it’s clear “Rumble” has turned over a new leaf.

Davis seemingly overlooked Johnson with all his pre-fight trash talk about the champion Jones. He paid for that big time as he could not take Johnson to the ground and essentially turned from “Mr. Wonderful” to “Mr. Punching Bag” for three-rounds as he could never take the fight to the ground and received a 15-minute beating for his troubles.

Johnson was the antithesis of what failed him in his first UFC run. He looked healthy, full of power, full of stamina and most critical of all, he was beaming with confidence.

The 30-year-old seemed unsure of his place as an elite fighter in the past, but with each blow landed and takedown stuffed against Davis, it became evident Johnson is more than just a knockout artist – he is a complete fighter and one of the best in the world at 205 pounds.

ALBANY, N.Y. – MMAjunkie is on scene and reporting live from today’s UFC Fight Night 102 event at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., which kicks off at 5:45 p.m. ET (2:45 p.m. PT). You can discuss the event here.